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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 006468 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Secretary Rice to Israel, West Bank November 13-14, 
 
SIPDIS 
2005 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All major media, except The Jerusalem Post, led with 
the political situation in Israel. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 
and FM Silvan Shalom this morning in Jerusalem. 
Ha'aretz quoted political sources as saying Sunday that 
Secretary Rice is likely to demand that Sharon step up 
 
SIPDIS 
negotiations over operating the border crossing in 
Rafah to enable free passage between the Gaza Strip and 
Egypt, and expand the activity of the Karni cargo 
terminal, which is considered the "bottleneck" of the 
Palestinian economy in the Gaza Strip.  Ha'aretz wrote 
that Rice will also seek to ascertain from Sharon how 
Israel will act in the event that Hamas takes part in 
the PA's parliamentary elections.  Ha'aretz noted that 
the topic came up in the course of Rice's preliminary 
meetings with top Sharon aide Dov Weisglass, during his 
visit to Washington.  The Jerusalem Post banners: "Rice 
to Nudge Both Sides During Brief Visit." The Jerusalem 
Post and Ha'aretz reported that, addressing the Saban 
Forum in Jerusalem on Sunday, Secretary Rice called on 
Israel to grant the Palestinians more freedom of 
movement and that she implored the Palestinians to 
tackle terrorism.  The Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz 
quoted Secretary Rice as saying that the possibility of 
peace would be more potent if "the Palestinians fight 
terrorism and violence and advance democratic reform, 
and Israel takes no action to prejudge the final talks 
and works to improve the daily lives of the 
Palestinians."  The Jerusalem Post quoted her as saying 
that more Israelis have come to recognize that a 
democratic Palestinian state is in Israel's security 
interest.  The Secretary was also quoted as saying that 
the PA's dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure is 
essential "because in the final analysis no democratic 
government can tolerate armed parties with one foot in 
politics and one foot in the camp of terror." 
 
The Jerusalem Post wrote that during their speeches 
before the Saban Forum, Sharon and Rice "seemed on 
exactly the same page regarding Iran, Syria, and Iraq." 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that a high-level 
meeting on Sunday slated to reach Israeli-Palestinian 
agreement on opening the Rafah border crossing ended in 
a stalemate.  Ha'aretz reported that the Quartet's 
special envoy, James Wolfensohn, met with Defense 
Minister Shaul Mofaz and PA Minister of Civilian 
Affairs Muhammad Dahlan, but that he did not resolve 
the key dispute: Israel's demand for information on 
those entering via the crossing in time to thwart the 
entry of those involved in terror.  Ha'aretz quoted 
Israeli sources as saying that the Palestinians 
toughened their stance at the meeting.  The newspaper 
reported that on Sunday, Wolfensohn called the next 72 
hours "critical to his mission" in a meeting with the 
managers of the Karni cargo terminal.  Ha'aretz further 
quoted Wolfensohn as saying he is frustrated by the 
lack of change in atmosphere between Israel and the 
Palestinians and the risk that the Gaza Strip will 
become a huge prison.  Ha'aretz quoted Wolfensohn as 
saying he planned to report his concern to Secretary 
Rice. 
 
In its lead story, Ha'aretz quoted several Labor Party 
ministers as saying on Sunday that Labor Party 
ministers will resign from the government even before 
the Knesset votes this Wednesday on four bills to 
dissolve the house, if the faction decides to support 
the bills at its own meeting on Tuesday.  Yediot 
banners newly elected Labor Party Chairman Amir 
Peretz's intransigence regarding his demand that Labor 
begin moves this week to dismantle the government. 
Leading media reported that senior Labor Party members 
lashed out at Peretz on Sunday over his behavior toward 
Sharon, accusing him of generating a needless crisis by 
issuing an ultimatum to the PM. 
 
Maariv reported that an increasing number of Likud 
members -- including Mofaz, in an interview with the 
newspaper -- are calling on Knesset Member Binyamin 
Netanyahu not to vie for party leadership and to stand 
behind Sharon in the struggle against the Peretz-led 
Labor Party.  Mofaz was quoted as saying in the 
interview with Maariv that Netanyahu and the Likud 
"rebels" must form a political alliance with Sharon. 
Yediot reported that senior Likud members are mulling a 
proposal to cancel the party's primaries, as Sharon 
would remain party chairman and Netanyahu would become 
his deputy.   Maariv quoted a Sharon associate as 
saying Sunday that Sharon is inclined to stay in the 
Likud in view of the approaching elections and Peretz' 
election as chairman of the Labor Party.  A Yediot/Mina 
Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll conducted among members 
of the Likud's Central Committee found that Sharon's 
opponents constitute a large majority among the party's 
candidates for the next Knesset. 
 
Maariv quoted Secretary Rice as saying before the Saban 
Forum that the late PM Yitzhak Rabin was a peace 
pioneer.  Leading media reported that the Knesset will 
hold a special session in Rabin's memory to mark ten 
years of his assassination.  The media reported that 
1,000 figures, including members of foreign delegations 
who have arrived in recent days, have been invited to 
the event.  Yediot published an op-ed article by 
British FM Tony Blair in memory of Rabin. 
 
Israel Radio reported that last night, the IDF 
responded with artillery fire to a launching of mortars 
next to the Gaza Strip-Israel barrier.  Ha'aretz and 
The Jerusalem Post reported that IDF troops shot and 
killed a Palestinian gunman while he lay wounded in a 
yard in Jenin on Saturday.  Leading media reported that 
the security forces defused a booby-trapped car that 
had been abandoned for over two weeks next to a 
shopping mall in Holon, a southern suburb of Tel Aviv. 
Yediot reported that IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has 
recommended that the army not impose a general closure 
of the territories following terrorist attacks, saying 
that such a measure constitutes a collective punishment 
that eventually harms Israel. 
 
Hatzofe reported that the Israeli defense establishment 
has recently exposed attempts by terror organizations 
to transfer terror means to the Gaza Strip and the West 
Bank through Egypt and Jordan.  The newspaper wrote 
that the terror activists were spotted at the Allenby 
Bridge. 
 
Leading media reported that on Sunday, U.S. Senator 
Hillary Clinton expressed strong support for Israel's 
construction of the separation fence, stating that 
every government has an obligation to protect its 
citizens and criticizing the Palestinian Authority and 
the residents of the territories for not doing enough 
to prevent terrorism against Israel.  Ha'aretz reported 
that on Sunday, former U.S. President Bill Clinton met 
with Sharon and condemned Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad's statement that "Israel must be wiped off 
the map, adding that Ahmadinejad was elected to improve 
the situation of his country, but that such comments 
only isolate it.  A headline in Yediot reads: "Bill and 
Hillary Have Conquered Israel." 
 
Maariv cited the UN's anger over a proclamation by 
Israeli customs of the Kuneitra crossing on the Golan 
as an international border crossing, following 
smuggling of goods into Israel by UN officials. 
 
Ha'aretz and Maariv reported that on Sunday, the state 
told the High Court of Justice that Israel Air Force 
warplanes break the sound barrier over the Gaza Strip 
to confuse terrorists. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that on Sunday, 
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf defended his 
recent efforts at rapprochement with Israel and 
American Jews, describing them as a "strategic 
decision" in an interview with CNN. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Plasan Sasa, a company 
based in Kibbutz Sasa in Galilee, has won a contract to 
supply the U.S. Marines with armor protection kits for 
their Oshkosh trucks in a deal worth USD 100 million. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli neurologist 
Dr. Rivka Inzelberg was invited by her Iranian 
colleagues to lecture on her findings about Alzheimer's 
disease during a recent conference in Istanbul. 
 
Yediot reported that the CIA tortured and killed a 
detainee in Iraq. 
 
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Secretary Rice to Israel, West Bank, November 13-14, 
 
SIPDIS 
2005: 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "This 
pedantry on the part of Israel, all of whose moves 
undoubtedly stem from some sort of security need, has 
already provoked the Quartet's representative, James 
Wolfensohn, to issue warnings and even to state that 
nothing has changed in the Strip since the IDF's 
departure." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "Whether you are newly elected Labor 
Party Chairman Amir Peretz championing the Oslo path or 
Ariel Sharon demanding that the PA live up to the 
Roadmap before further progress is made -- there is an 
Israeli consensus." 
 
Former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "The memory of [Yitzhak Rabin] should remind 
each of us -- Israeli, Arab, and American alike -- that 
peace should always be more than only a prayer.  It 
should be our aspiration." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Endangering the Disengagement " 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(November 14): "The government seeks to enjoy the best 
of all possible worlds: to disengage from Gaza and make 
the Palestinian Authority responsible for its economic 
future, while imposing an absolute freeze on any 
diplomatic negotiations over the region's future.... 
The current dispute between the PA and Israel over the 
question of the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza 
is liable to create the impression that we are talking 
about some inviolable security necessity.... It would 
not be superfluous to examine whether Israel could not 
concede on this issue, whose security importance is far 
outweighed by the benefits of resolving the dispute. 
This pedantry on the part of Israel, all of whose moves 
undoubtedly stem from some sort of security need, has 
already provoked the Quartet's representative, James 
Wolfensohn, to issue warnings and even to state that 
nothing has changed in the Strip since the IDF's 
departure.  This is a severe statement, which is aimed 
primarily at Israel and can be heard clearly in 
Washington.  Israel, the PA, and members of the Quartet 
all have a clear interest in Wolfensohn persisting in 
his efforts rather than throwing up his hands in 
despair." 
 
II.  "The Wrong Path" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (November 14): "On all the ideas Abbas 
could have raised on Friday [during a ceremony in 
memory of Yasser Arafat], it is disheartening he chose 
to hammer away at the usual non-starters: Israel 
withdrawal to the 1967 'borders' including Jerusalem's 
holy places, and the demand for the 'return' of the 
'refugees'.... Such intransigence coupled with a self- 
defeating refusal to stop the violence is indeed 
embracing Arafat's 'legacy.'  But it is not the way 
toward peace.... Whether you are newly elected Labor 
Party Chairman Amir Peretz championing the Oslo path or 
Ariel Sharon demanding that the PA live up to the 
Roadmap before further progress is made -- there is an 
Israeli consensus: no return to the 1949 Armistice 
lines -- Abbas's so-called 1967 'borders.'  No 'return 
of the 1948 refugees and their descendants.... No 
Israeli government will halt construction of the 
security barrier.  And no Israeli prime minister -- no 
matter how accommodating -- will sit on his hands as 
scores of Israelis are slaughtered in cafes, buses, and 
markets.  His predecessor's policies brought despair 
and the relentless shedding of innocent blood.  If he 
is to lead the Palestinians along the path to a better 
future, Arafat's are the last 'principles' Abbas should 
be seeking to emulate." 
 
III.  "James Baker Remembers Yitzhak Rabin" 
 
Former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III wrote in 
Ha'aretz (November 14): "I am honored to lead the 
American presidential delegation to Israel this week to 
commemorate the 10th anniversary of the tragic loss of 
Yitzhak Rabin, a man whom I was proud to call my 
friend.  He was a true giant -- a soldier tempered by 
war whose tireless efforts in the name of peace are a 
reminder that anything is possible, even in the face of 
daunting opposition, through commitment and vision. 
This anniversary should serve as a moment to recall the 
extraordinary life of a tireless defender of Israel and 
a visionary who struggled -- and died -- for a future 
where Israelis could live in peace with all their 
neighbors.  And it is an occasion to rededicate 
ourselves to that dream.... Foremost, Mr. Rabin 
believed that military strength was to be used to 
obtain peace, not merely to exercise military 
control.... He also believed that the special 
relationship between Israel and the United States was 
critical to promoting negotiations for a lasting peace 
between Israelis and Arabs.  He understood that the 
United States cannot 'create peace' in the Middle East. 
Only Arabs and Israelis can do that.  But Washington 
can play an important role in that difficult process. 
And finally, he believed that peace was crucial to the 
long-term security of Israel.... Yitzhak Rabin was a 
true visionary who possessed a unique understanding of 
his country, and its role in the region and the world. 
As such, he will never be forgotten.  But the memory of 
him should remind each of us -- Israeli, Arab, and 
American alike -- that peace should always be more than 
only a prayer.  It should be our aspiration." 
 
JONES